The Hunt: A Custodes Noctis Book (28 page)

“Thanks,” Galen said. “Guy said I should gather the vassals.”

“We’re going to need help.” Blake nodded.

“There aren’t any vassals anymore, not really,” Galen reminded him. “There’s one guy in town who said he’d help. And Rhiannon’s here.”

“And me,” Flash said.

“Yeah,” Galen said, trying to figure a way to keep his friend out of it.

“We will need them, and more,” Blake said. “There will be creatures that are drawn to the
feorhbealu
, things that walk the night, things that will happily ally themselves to the
feorhbealu
and help them carve a piece out of this world—even knowing they will eventually fall victim to their masters. The
feorhbealu
will take everything in the end.”

“Everything?” Flash asked, swallowing nervously.

“Everything,” Blake confirmed. “It’s why the Fae were willing to help humans defeat them.”

“You didn’t manage to defeat them, though,” Galen said bitterly.

“No, not then. They thought they had.”

Galen caught the pronoun. “They? Not we? You knew they weren’t gone?”

“I hoped they weren’t, actually. Once the spell failed to retrieve Robert and Guy, all I could do was wait for them to reappear and convince the serving Emrys
Custodes Noctis
to join the Hunt. It was the only way I could hope to free them.”

A wordless growl issued from Flash, Galen grabbed his friend’s arm to stop him from attacking Blake. Flash pulled against the hold, but stopped when Galen hissed a word of warning as well.
 
Something moved in the fog before Galen could say anything. A dark shadow slipped along the road, moving silently. As it got closer, goosebumps appeared on Galen’s arm, he sensed Flash’s shudder as the smell of rotting corpses drifted over them, the smell came with a wave of emotion, sickening, disgusting, like melting flesh made mobile. Galen held his breath. Whatever was out there wasn’t interested in them, it moved past without a pause, disappearing into the brush, heading towards the ocean.

“It is beginning,” Blake said, breaking the silence.

“What is?” Flash growled.

“They’re gathering, waiting for the
feorhbealu
.”

“You know, this just keeps getting better,” Flash grumbled.

Headlights appeared in the dark, heading towards them at high speed. Galen dragged Flash off the road, the next moment the lights swept over them and a truck came to a skidding stop. Rhiannon jumped out of the driver’s side and walked over to Galen, pulling him into a tight embrace. A huge wave of relief washed off of her and he realized she was close to tears.

“Don’t ever scare me like that,” she said, pulling away and hitting him on the chest.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said gently.

“Get in the truck, the others are at the motel.”

“Others?”

“Greg and Marc,” she said with a shrug.

“Marc?” Galen asked. “Marc Nelson?”

“Yeah, he came in, mumbled something and insisted on coming to help.” She grinned her fierce almost feral grin. “I figured it was time for a council of war.”

Galen ended up closing his eyes for the drive back. While he was willing to face the
feorhbealu
and fight things like the Old One, he refused to watch as Rhiannon drove. After narrowly avoiding a drainage ditch, she pulled into the middle of the road, straddling the double yellow line, and sped up.
 
Flash was swearing at her, Blake silent as they headed back. It was a remarkably short ride, considering the fog, and they pulled up at the motel far sooner than Galen had expected.

Greg and Marc were leaning against the building when they pulled up. Galen nodded at them and led the way upstairs. Once they were settled in the main room, he brought the others up-to-date about the
feorhbealu
and how they needed the Hunt. He was half tempted to leave some of it out, but Flash thought differently and told them about the attempts on Galen’s life—and his own—and the champion’s opposition. When he was done, there was silence in the room, Rhiannon had her hands tightly clasped, the knuckles visible as white spots on her skin. He suspected she was trying not to kill Blake. The tension in the room was tying a knot in his neck, causing a low throb of pain to beat in his head. He waited for someone to say something, but the silence dragged on.

It was suddenly too much, he needed time to think—to prepare for what he knew was coming. The fact he couldn’t reach Rob, couldn’t really sense him anymore, was slowly killing him. He had to get away. Without another word, he walked out, down the stairs and out to where the ravens had played and Rob had stabbed him. It was quiet, the only sound the distant murmur of the surf.

“Dad?” he said softly into the night, needing the elder Keepers.

A shimmer swirled the fog into a small vortex. “I was beginning to worry you weren’t going to call,” his father said gently.

“Took your time about it, that’s for sure,” Bobby said, appearing beside Parry.

“Do you know what’s happening?” Galen asked.

“Some of it,” Parry said.

“How much?” Galen said wearily, trying to hide his fear and grief.

“We know about Rob, we felt his loss,” Bobby said.

“My fault, he took my place.”

“Galen,” Parry said, laying a hand on his shoulder, “you know perfectly well that trying to stop your brother once his mind’s made up is like trying to stop time.”

“Yeah,” Galen said ruefully, leaning into his father and resting his head on the shimmering shoulder. “But it is my fault, if I had accepted my place after the Ritual of Swords, this wouldn’t have happened, the Hunt wouldn’t have found me again. Gods, I never even finished the tattoo.” The unfinished design on his arm suddenly itched. The tattoo was part of their Traditions. It’d been started when he was thirteen and left his foster family for good. He’d never finished, never added the colors that indicated he was a fully trained Keeper. “Rob has,” he said quietly. “Of course, Rob has.”

“This isn’t your fault,” Bobby insisted.

“Keep saying that and I might believe it someday. I almost got Rob killed four months ago, and now this.”

“This is who we are,
Custodes Noctis,
” Parry said, his voice gently chiding. “You know that, Galen. You saved your brother four months ago.”

“But Dad… If I had… I don’t know,” he said desperately. “Accepted my place—or never taken it—this wouldn’t be happening. Rob wouldn’t be lost. I… Gods, sometimes I just wish,” Galen stopped the words before they were all the way formed.

“I understand,” Bobby whispered.

Galen felt a surge of emotion from his father, lifting his head he looked at his uncle. “What?”

“Bobby,” Parry began.

“No, he needs to know, Parry.”

“Needs to know what?” Galen asked.

“Bobby, no!” Concern colored Parry’s angry demand.

“Yes, Parry,” Bobby said firmly.

“What are you talking about, Uncle Bobby?”

“This might be partially my fault, too,” Bobby said, looking over Galen’s shoulder.

“It’s not,” Parry growled.

“Knowing what we now know, you know it could be, Parry.”

“What are you talking about?” Galen demanded, trying to read the other two.

“It happened thirty years ago. I considered walking away,” Bobby said, his voice flat.

“Walking away?” Galen didn’t understand.
Custodes Noctis
couldn’t just leave once they’d performed the Ritual of Swords.
 
“How? Why?”

“We fought something unlike anything we’d ever seen before, a dark force that sucked the light away. What is it?” Bobby asked, when Galen swore under his breath.

“The things in the park, they were like that, they’re the precursors of the
feorhbealu,
I think.”

“Oh,” Bobby said softly. “It was bad, they came after me.”

“Us, they came after us,” Parry corrected.

“I wasn’t ready, they killed…” Bobby stopped, tears shimmering though his presence. “They killed my wife, and we followed their trail and found them. During the fight, Parry was injured.”

“Bobby?” Galen reached out an put his hand on his uncle’s arm, letting the warmth of the healing flow, hoping it would calm him even in this state. Grief flowed back, grief so profound it took his breath away. Parry hadn’t just been injured, he’d been a hair’s breadth from death. Hopelessness colored the grief as well.

“He was dying, Galen, dead for all intents and purposes. Our father and uncle had given up hope.” Bobby took a deep breath and continued. “There was more going on with him than just physical injuries.”

“And?” Galen frowned. When a Keeper died, his brother followed.

“I thought I could stop it. I went out to where we’d found the creature,” Bobby said quietly, guilt joining the grief.

“And?” Galen asked quietly, trying to breathe through the grief flowing off his uncle, it ached deep in his bones with a desperation Galen understood all too well.

“The creature was there, I could see it, just beyond the world, hovering there like a dark mist.” Bobby met his eyes. “I tried to call it out, make it fight me. It had done something to Parry, and I was a little…”

“Suicidal? I know the feeling.” Galen nodded, then understanding hit him. “It was Fae?”

“Yes, like the
each uisge,
but more intelligent—and devious.”

“You spoke to it?”

“I did—and didn’t,” Bobby replied. “It wanted us—the Emrys Keepers—dead or…”

“Or?” Galen asked.

“I never understood what it meant, but it said dead or ‘kept faithful like those that serve us.’”

“Like those that serve?”

“I don’t know what it meant.” Bobby was shaking his head.

“You were dealing with the Fae, something like
each uisge,
Bobby,” Galen said.

“I know, but I tried to call it out.
 
It’s why the Hunt is here,” Bobby continued.

“No.” Galen said gently. “And Dad lived, Bobby.”

“Yes, three days later he woke up, the doctors said it was a miracle, our father said it was a miracle. He was a good healer, but nothing like you, Galen. I thought it was over, then they came for you.”

“The Hunt came for me, not the Fae, and they had every right to come for me,” Galen said, meeting his uncle’s eyes and letting the thought flow through the healing. “I denied my place. I didn’t walk away in grief, yes, Bobby, you were grieving and there is no fault there. I denied everything I was, I died, I didn’t want to see Rob, gods, when he came back, I tried to get him to go again. I thought I was at peace with it after the fight with the Old One, but then when Rob was hurt by its minions. I tried to leave again, I tried to block him and just stop it all. It only lasted a moment, less than a second, but it was enough for the Hunt to find me again. I don’t think they’re here because you called out a member of the Fae thirty years ago, Bobby.”

“I called them, Galen,” his uncle insisted.

“The Hunt was here before that, the chapel has been here for a long time. You might have contacted them then without realizing it, I don’t know, but I do know I was supposed to ride with them, by the rules of the
Custodes Noctis.
I denied everything I was, I am.”

“Galen,” Parry said.

“And none of this changes the fact the
feorhbealu
are back, and we’re in this whether it was my fault or just a trick of fate.” Galen heard the confidence grow in his voice as he spoke. Something whispered along the bond, the softest brush of Rob’s consciousness, still there under the darker touch of the king.
“Hang on, Brat,”
Galen said, trying to still the sudden leap of hope. “We need a plan, and something Blake isn’t party to. I still don’t trust him.”

“You need to call the former Keepers, Galen,” Parry said.

“I can’t without Rob.” Galen shook his head. When he’d called the army of former Keepers to help fight the Old One his brother had helped, boosted his power enough to raise the army from their rest.

“Yes, you can,” Bobby added firmly. “We’ll help, but you really don’t need us. Blake will figure out what’s happened, but once they’re called he can’t do anything about it.”

The calm presence of the elder Keepers helped center Galen. He had no idea if he’d be able to accomplish what they were asking of him—any of it—but he was determined to try. The few items he needed to use for the spell to call the former Keepers were in the Jeep, he gathered them and returned to where his father and uncle were waiting. They wouldn’t need long, if they could manage it at all. Galen laid the items on the ravens’ altar, took a deep breath, and began to build the magic he’d need to raise an army.

Flash was bending over him when he opened his eyes. Galen was lying in the damp grass, looking up at the fog lit by the lamps from the motel. He could hear whispers in the dark, the voices of other Keepers preparing for war. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rhiannon talking to Greg and Marc. Blake was standing beside Bobby, a set look on his face, annoyance flowing out of him to buffet Galen.

“Galen?” Parry asked.

“Yeah,” Galen answered and pushed himself up.

“I told you,” his father chided.

“You sound like Rob when you do that, Dad.”

“Should I be offended?” Parry chuckled and waited as Galen stood.

“Are you okay?” Flash looked him up and down.

“I am.” Galen rolled his shoulders and looked at the bandage on his arm, he knew the spell required blood, but he never remembered the act that led to the wound. “I really am, Flash. How much time do we have?”

“We need to head back to the Great Altar if we are to be there by dawn,” Blake said, walking over to Galen. “That was very nicely done.” Something akin to fear flowed off Stephen.

“You seem surprised,” Parry said.